Re: Announce: GPL Framework centered on Postgres

* Kenneth Downs:

> If you seek to provide a closed source app that is built upon
> Andromeda, you are required to provide the source code to Andromeda
> itself.  However, your app is not a derivative work in the strict
> sense because your code is not mixed in with mine in any sense.  You
> never modify a file, and your files and mine are actually in separate
> directories.

Many proprietary software vendors think that if you program to an
interface which has a sole implementation, your code becomes a derived
work of that implementation.  If you sell different licenses for
run-time and development environments, such an attitude towards
copyright law seems inevitable.

It's a bit unfortunate that the FSF promotes this interpretation,
although it's necessary for creating an effective copyleft license for
libraries and other reusable components.